Quickstart

Note

If you are using GeoServer locally, the GEOSERVER_URL is usually http://localhost:8080/geoserver

Viewing a layer

Once GeoServer is installed and running, open up a web browser and go to the web admin console (Interface basics). Navigate to the Layer Preview by clicking on the Layer Preview link at the bottom of the left sidebar. You will be presented with a list of the currently configured layers in your GeoServer instance. Find the row that says topp:states. To the right of the layer click on the link that says KML.

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The Map Preview page

If Google Earth is correctly installed on your computer, you will see a dialog asking how to open the file. Select Open with Google Earth.

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Open with Google Earth

When Google Earth is finished loading the result will be similar to below.

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The topp:states layer rendered in Google Earth

Direct access to KML

All of the configured FeatureTypes are available to be output as KML (and thus loaded into Google Earth). The URL structure for KMLs is:

http://GEOSERVER_URL/wms/kml?layers=<layername>

For example, the topp:states layer URL is:

http://GEOSERVER_URL/wms/kml?layers=topp:states